Green Lake's illegal skate bowl will cost Seattle $33,000

Crews demolish a concrete skate bowl on 'Duck Island' in the middle of Green Lake.

Courtesy Seattle Parks and Recreation

Crews with Seattle Parks and Recreation are dismantling an unauthorized skate park on Duck Island in Green Lake this week.

The large concrete bowl was built by a group of skateboard fans in response to a do-it-yourself contest from Nike and TransWorld Skateboarding.

Kelly Brown with Seattle Parks said building the illegal skate park destroyed a lot of vegetation on Duck Island, which until now, the city had considered an unofficial bird sanctuary.

“By putting the concrete skate park in bird habitat and disrupting the vegetation, it has critical implications on how the birds live their lives on the island as well” Brown said.

Destroying plants may not sound like much, but it accounts for the bulk of the cost of fixing the damage done to the island.

The total removal and repair will come to about $33,000. About $27,000 of that will go to replacing damaged trees and other vegetation. Brown says the city also needs to replace a lot of soil on the ground because it was contaminated by the lime in the skate bowl’s concrete.

One good thing to come out of the skate park mess: City park officials plan to meet with state officials in several weeks about making Duck Island and official bird sanctuary.